


Summer

by idola



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-09 17:37:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6916879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idola/pseuds/idola
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yearly family vacations were normally insufferable for Hakuryuu. It was uncommon for them to be tolerable, and they were rarely enjoyable.</p><p>During the rare times they were, summer was far too short.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer

“You’re leaving tomorrow?” A voice that Hakuryuu became a little too familiar with over the summer called as he stepped carefully through the tall grass in front of the patio over to Hakuryuu’s spot in the shade.

Hakuryuu nodded, shifting so there was room for another to sit at the porch steps. This has been their meeting place over the past season - Hakuryuu would wake up, do whatever it was his sister wanted to spend the day doing with her, then at the hottest point of the day meet Judar at the rented vacation house’s porch. 

“I thought you would come a little earlier since it’s the last time I’ll ever see you,” Hakuryuu said. He didn’t really think so - he knew that Judar couldn’t get away from home until the afternoon, but Hakuryuu hadn’t felt spending time doing anything else.

“Aw, come on. You could always convince your super rich family to spend another summer in this bumpkin village next year.” Judar plopped next to Hakuryuu and lay his head on Hakuryuu’s shoulder as if it was the most natural thing in the world to him. Though Hakuei or any of the others who had come along could happen by the window and see them at any time, Hakuryuu returned the gesture by relaxing onto Judar.

Hakuryuu hummed in acknowledgement. “Koumei is picking the vacation, so I doubt we’ll be going anywhere interesting. And even if I come, how do I know you’ll still be here?”

“I have nowhere else to go. Which one was Koumei again?”

“Pimples.”

“Oh yeah! Pimples. Hey, does that guy ever leave this place? I seriously don’t think I’ve seen him go outside once.”

Hakuryuu shrugged. “Well, there’s not that much to do here.”

“Weren’t you having fun counting all the flowers or something before we met? There’s always that.” He paused to think before adding, “Places like this probably have lots more flowers than big cities.”

Hakuryuu huffed. “I wasn’t counting them. It’s impossible to count every flower on a mountain, I was just looking at them. I’ll miss all the plants when I go back.”

Judar moved his head from Hakuryuu’s shoulder to fake-pout at him. “Hey! Is that all you’ll miss?”

Pushing hair out of his face, Hakuryuu smiled. “I don’t know. There’s not much else to do here besides look at plants.”

Judar stood up, brushing dirt off his clothes. “Let’s go on a date then. I’m not going to lose to some plants.”

Hakuryuu followed Judar down the steps and back through the yard of wild grasses. “Where are we going today?”

“You have all night, right? Let’s go to the waterfall. No one else ever goes there ‘cause it’s real far away.”

“You won’t get lost on the way back, will you?”

Judar grinned. “It’s not really being lost if it’s with you. Besides, I can always climb a tree and find the town from the lights.”

“Aren’t you worried you’ll fall?”

“Trust me a little more! I’ve been climbing them my whole life.” Judar flipped his braid over his shoulder proudly.

“You fell the other day.”

“Sh, shut up! You were distracting me. It wasn’t my fault.”

“I don’t think you can be called an expert tree climber if you get distracted that easily,” Hakuryuu teased.

“It’s not my fault everything you do is so distracting,” Judar said, tugging at Hakuryuu’s sleeve. “Hey, let’s go to the corner store. It’s gonna be a long walk so I want a popsicle.”

Before this summer, Hakuryuu couldn’t have counted the years since he’d eaten a popsicle. The childish joy of eating them on a hot summer day couldn’t be found eating them alone, and since his brothers died it had never occurred to him to buy one. But Judar was always finding excuses for sweets and ways to stay cool against the heat, and soon Hakuryuu was eating popsicles with him almost every day.

“It’s the place we met, right? How romantic to go there together on your last day here.”

“It’s just a corner store. I don’t think I’d call it romantic.”

“It was romantic! You saved me from Kouha.”

Hakuryuu tried not to laugh, but couldn’t help it. “He’s pretty obnoxious when he starts idolizing someone.” He’d found his way around town before all his cousins had finished unpacking, so when Kouha realized he’d forgotten to bring some cosmetic or other Hakuryuu had been volunteered against his will to go with Kouha so he wouldn’t ‘be lonely,’ which was a joke no matter how he looked at it. For one, Hakuryuu was pretty sure Kouha didn’t actually get lonely. He seemed to enjoy his time whether anyone was there or not. And for two, he always found someone to talk to. Even though they’d only been in the village for a couple of months, Kouha seemed to have already befriended every villager.

“He was all over me! Asking where I got my eyeshadow, what concealer I use, couldn’t he see that there’s only one store in the whole damn town! It’s a no brainer where I got it.”

“You looked so miserable. I’m surprised he didn’t notice and kept trying to talk to you.”

Judar groaned, remembering the scene. “It was terrible, I hate it when strangers try and talk to me.” He smiled at Hakuryuu. “You really saved me there. I can’t believe you’re related to any of them.”

“Me neither. I wish I wasn’t.”

The bell at the top of the corner store’s door rang loudly as they walked in. It would have been off-putting in the quietness of the village but Hakuryuu had found soon after arriving that every loud city noise had its country equivalent - the sound of distant roads was replaced by the sound of wind blowing on the fields, and the beeping and ringing sounds of electronics was instead a grating chorus of cicadas of all kinds. 

“What flavor are you getting today?” Judar asked, eyeing the cooler. “I think I’ll get…” He made a mocking motion of checking each label carefully. “Peach.”

Hakuryuu smiled. “Haven’t you gotten peach every time? You should try something new for once.”

“I have tried them all! Probably. At some point in time.”

Hakuryuu shook his head. “What will you do when you try a different flavor for once and realize that all this time you’ve been eating your second favorite?”

Judar gasped. “No way! Peach just sounds like the best flavor, right? It’s gotta be the best.” He said so confidently, but was looking at the other flavors more carefully this time. “Well… which one's your favorite? You’ve tried them all by now, right?”

Hakuryuu surveyed the selection. Apple, grape, pear, chocolate…There were even uncommon flavors like green tea and pomegranate. He couldn’t recall any tasting particularly good or bad - he could only recall ‘the one he ate while Judar tried to catch a fish barehanded,’ ‘the one he ate when Judar gave him a wildflower bouquet,’ ‘the one his mouth tasted like when they shared their first kiss.’

“Probably the pear one,” he decided, opening up the cooler and taking a peach and pear popsicle. “I’ll miss these when I go back. I don’t even know where you can buy popsicles in the city.”

“Don’t you have supermarkets and stuff? I bet you can get one there.”

“I never go to them. The maids do all the shopping.”

Judar shook his head in exasperation. “Who the hell has maids! You don’t have any excuse for not visiting me if you’re rich enough to hire people to buy your groceries.”

Hakuryuu payed for the popsicles quickly - at first he had been overly acknowledged as a stranger in the village, but he was becoming a regular enough presence. Briefly Hakuryuu wondered if the townspeople would ask Judar about him once he left.

“Ahh, it’s so hot out here. I hate how summer feels once you leave the air conditioning,” Judar whined as he opened his popsicle. He sucked on it for a minute before making a satisfied noise. “Peach really is the best!”

Hakuryuu opened his less quickly, careful to not drop it. Judar eyed the green color suspiciously, watching it even as Hakuryuu licked it.

“Hey, let me try it. I need to make sure mine is better.”

Smiling fondly, Hakuryuu held his popsicle in front of Judar. He tasted it seriously, like he was comparing the two finalists in a cooking show.

“Hey, haven’t I had this flavor before? I feel like I have.”

Hakuryuu could feel his face heat up. He’d been feeling sentimental and chosen it since it reminded him of Judar (not that all the other flavors didn’t - this one just reminded him specifically of Judar’s lips), and would die of embarrassment if Judar could pinpoint where he’d tried it. However, Judar shrugged without continuing and put his own popsicle back in his mouth.

“Peach is sweeter.”

Nodding, Hakuryuu agreed. “It’s probably the sweetest one there. It suits you in a weird way.”

Judar’s eyes widened and he bit into his popsicle. “Ah! What’s that supposed to mean…” He looked away, then picked up his walking speed.

Hakuryuu followed, smiling mischievously. He couldn’t really call Judar his boyfriend since they’d probably never see each other after today. But he would enjoy the time that they were together while it lasted.

“Hey, Hakuryuu.” Judar called back once he’d gotten over his embarrassment. “It’s an hour or so if we walk. But it’s really nice this time of year. Have you ever seen a waterfall before?”

Hakuryuu was about to answer yes, of course he’d seen a waterfall, before he realized that he hadn’t. He’d visited just about every major city on the continent but never seen much of the world’s natural state. “I’ve seen videos of them,” he said. “But never the real thing.”

“It’s a little loud, but really refreshing. The water gets everywhere but it’s not really wet. And it freezes in the winter!”

Judar looked so surprised that the water could freeze upright, and Hakuryuu didn’t have the heart to say that he knew already from pictures. “It would be nice if I could see it in the winter too.”

Judar’s smile faltered before he grabbed Hakuryuu’s hand with his own. “Yeah! Then we could have a snowball fight. If you hide outside of a house you can throw snowballs in when the door opens. I love winter.”

“How much snow do you get here? There are only ever a couple of inches where I live.”

“Um…” Judar thought for a minute, and looked at the ground as if envisioning how it would look during a winter trek. “It’s like… A little above all these plants. It’s hard to find the path sometimes.”

Four or five inches, then. Hakuryuu had quickly gathered through conversations with Judar that his school was pretty lax, to the point of him wondering why Judar even bothered going. Or maybe he didn’t and that was the problem. Every time Hakuryuu tried asking, Judar had whined some variant of 'don’t remind me! I’m on summer break!' which did nothing but make Hakuryuu even more skeptical of his level of education. Even so, it must not have been that bad since Judar claimed he was graduating in the spring. And he was smart when it came to other things - just not book smart.

Judar had wandered off the path, his eyes set on a vibrant pink flower. “Hakuryuu, what’s this?”

Hakuryuu squinted to make out the flower’s petals. “It’s an anemone. It wasn’t blooming last time we went this way, was it?”

“Nope.” Judar crouched down next to it to poke around at it. At first Hakuryuu had been annoyed every time Judar poked at flowers, thinking he was going to rip them off and leave them, but it turned out he appreciated them just the same as Hakuryuu. He was memorizing the different kinds slowly at Hakuryuu’s guidance. 

“There were little white ones here last time instead,” Judar said after a while. 

“It looks different just by what flowers are blooming, huh? The city looks the same every time of year. It’s boring.”

“I want to go sometime,” Judar said as he hopped over some small woody plants back to the path. He linked hands with Hakuryuu once again, swinging their hands lightly. “Kouha says there are whole stores with nothing but makeup in them.”

Hakuryuu raised an eyebrow. “Even if there are, he and Kougyoku still order lots of it from far away. I guess no matter where you live it’s hard to be satisfied.”

“Nah. They’re just spoiled brats. I’d love to visit a big makeup store, just once.”

Hakuryuu looked at Judar from the corner of his eyes, pressing the now bare popsicle stick to his lips in thought. Judar always wore a line of purplish-red above his eyes, applied more heavily at the outer edges. The difference in color reminded Hakuryuu of fuchsias. Judar didn’t wear much else when it came to cosmetics, but it still looked natural alongside his dark eyelashes and clear skin. It looked like he was trying very hard to look different from his peers, or like he didn’t care what his peers looked like and just had a solid idea of what he wanted to look like.

It wasn’t long before Judar noticed his staring and became bashful. Hakuryuu smiled. Despite appearances and bragging, Judar was a pretty shy person when it came to how he looked. He’d gathered quickly that this was Judar’s first experience with a romantic relationship, even if they didn’t call it one. It was Hakuryuu’s first time as well. However, unlike Judar, he’d had lots of crushes that didn’t work out and had plenty of experience in the first few steps of a relationship.

Even if he had plenty of embarrassing crushes in his days, Hakuryuu had never felt the bursts of genuine affection that he’d grown so used to recently with anyone but Judar. Unexpectedly, Judar had turned the boring yearly family vacation into what would become an unforgettable memory. That was the problem, though - it would just be a memory. 

“Judar, you’re going to graduate this year, right?”

Judar made a pained face. “Don’t remind me… It’s another entire year of sitting in a classroom with a bunch of nobodies and no heating or air conditioning. It’s hell.”

“Are you really going to stay here?”

“Well, yeah. It’s not like the city, there’s not much I can do.”

“You’ll stay here the year after, too?”

“Unfortunately. Have to work in the fields and stuff.”

“I’ll be an adult then.”

“I’ll be… twenty, or something. Wow.”

“And you’ll still be here?”

“Come on, Hakuryuu. If you’re really gonna come visit when you can, I’ll still be here. Trust me.”

Hakuryuu shifted his hand. With the forest’s shade, the late summer heat had become more bearable. But it was still enough to feel sweaty where their hands were linked. “I’ll write you letters.”

“If I respond, you’ll just correct my spelling! Why don’t you call me instead?”

Hakuryuu pursed his lips. “Do you even have a phone?”

“A house phone, yeah. Every house has a house phone.”

Hakuryuu didn’t mention that the rental house he was staying at didn’t have even that. “Give me your number.” He handed Judar the cellphone from his pocket.

Judar wiped his hands on his loose pants legs before taking the phone and examining it suspiciously. “I don’t know how.” He flipped the phone open, and pressed a few buttons at random. The screen turned on, then he clicked a button to turn the screen back off. “Uh… did I break it?” He shook it for good measure.

Hakuryuu took the phone back. “I understand. I’ll enter it.”

Judar gave Hakuryuu his number. “Hey, you’ll remember to call me, right?”

“Of course. I’ll call you as soon as I get back home. If you want.”

“Yeah! But not if you get home really early. Let me wake up first.”

Hakuryuu thought of Judar trying to answer a call half asleep, grumbling and looking for the source of the loud disturbance. He’d never seen Judar in the morning but had a strong inclination to believe Judar had trouble with mornings. Thinking about what Judar was like in the morning, wow, Hakuryuu might have been in it deeper than he liked to admit.

“Hakuryuu, do you hear it?”

He held his breath and listened closely, even though he knew exactly what Judar was talking about. He always said so when he noticed the frogs start croaking for the night. Well, maybe it wasn’t that the frogs only started then. It could have been that the boisterous midday cicadas only quieted down enough to hear the frogs. But it was a sign that the sun was lowering in the sky, even if they couldn’t see its position beyond the trees.

“Doesn’t it get dark so far away from town?”

“Well, yeah. But even though it’s a kinda twisty path it’s mostly uphill. It’s not that far away from town when you look down.” He looked at Hakuryuu’s face, then looked back at the path. It had gone from being paved at the base of the path to dirt, and was now a dirt path in desperate need of being weeded. “Are you scared?”

“No, it’s fine. I trust you.”

Judar flashed him a bright smile, then hopped a few steps ahead. “Hey, let’s get there soon! It’s only a little more.”

Hakuryuu matched his pace to Judar’s. He noticed the plants change - they grew thicker and shorter, and the patches of light filtering in from the sky caught his attention. The clouds, though few, were taking on the yellow hue of sunset. They beaconed the blue sky to follow in becoming a bright color before darkness hit.

Judar followed his gaze. “Isn't it cool? You can see the stars a little already, look.” Judar pointed upwards but Hakuryuu was unable to follow it up to where he was pointing in the sky.

“I can’t see them yet.”

“You will soon. There aren’t many clouds so it’ll be real nice again tonight.”

For the first time in his life, this summer Hakuryuu had seen a sky truly full of stars. He didn’t realize just how many were obscured in the city until he stayed out late one night with Judar and was greeted with what looked more like the sky through a telescope than something he could see with just his eyes. 

“Ah, Hakuryuu, listen. You can hear the waterfall from here!” Judar tugged at his hand excitedly. “There aren’t any fish this far upstream, but the water is really cool. It feels good after the long walk.”

“Won’t it be hard to walk back if you get your shoes wet?”

“Well, I hate shoes anyway. It’s a pain to wear them so I always go back down the hill barefoot.”

Hakuryuu laughed. “You’re ridiculous. I don’t know anyone else who would willingly go down a mountain barefoot.”

“It’s not a mountain! Just a foothill.”

“Right, right. Still.”

“Well, it’s fine. Even if I stepped on something and cut my foot you’d carry me, right?”

“Well… yeah. I would carry you.”

Judar raised his hands into the air for his victory. “It’s settled! You’ll carry me.”

“You’re fine! I’ll only carry you if you get hurt. You’re too heavy to carry if you’re just lazy.”

“Ahh, I’m hurt. You hurt my feelings, see? So you’ll carry me. Right?”

They laughed together. Even though it’d only been a short amount of time, Hakuryuu felt like he knew Judar best out of everyone he’d ever met. It was much more natural to spend time with him than with any of his numerous family members, and easier to be with Judar than any of his classmates. Maybe he was just feeling romantic and glorifying Judar in the moment, but Hakuryuu felt like meeting Judar had improved his life significantly. Even if it was only for a little while.

The trees opened into a small clearing. The sound of the waterfall and the lively voices of frogs made it sound less like being alone in the mountains and more like they were just the late guests to a grand end-of-summer festival.

“You’re right, the mist feels good.” Hakuryuu sat down at the water’s edge and watched as a frog jumped in and swam off. Judar kicked off his shoes and walked in.

“The water feels good, too. There aren’t any fish though.”

“Maybe you just scared them all away.”

“Ahh, no way! I wanted one!”

“What would even do with a fish all the way up here? Do you know how to make a fire?”

“Yeah! I’m not that good at it so sometimes it takes awhile though.”

“Seriously? You can do it without a lighter?”

Judar nodded. “Do you think it’s cool?”

“Kind of.” Hakuryuu was mostly indifferent to whether Judar could start a fire or not, but seeing his gloating face at being called cool was worth feeding his ego just this once. It was probably the last time he’d be able to see his reaction to it, after all.

“Hakuryuu, aren’t you gonna come in? It’s nice.”

Hakuryuu looked up at the sky once more. Its color had passed red and was returning to blue. He couldn’t see the sun, but he guessed it had fallen mostly past the horizon. He realized now that they were at the pond that they could follow the river back to town easily - Judar had just taken the long way because they’d be out longer. 

“Sure. I’m coming.”

Judar smiled, then jolted. “Hakuryuu!! It’s a firefly!”

“Hm?” Hakuryuu followed Judar into the water, putting a hand on Judar’s shoulder so he didn’t slip on the slick rocks. It wasn’t long before a light flickered, then another.

“I guess they like the water.”

Judar splashed over, grabbing at the air to catch one. He looked at his hands, then grabbed at the air again. “Aha! I got one.” He hurried back to Hakuryuu, splash splash splash, then opened his hand in front of Hakuryuu’s chest.

“It’s not lighting up.”

“Give it a second!”

They both waited, staring at the bug. When it finally flickered, they both made a surprised noise.

“See!! I told you it just needed a second.”

“You’re right. It’s flying off now.”

“It’s fine.” Judar shook the hand that the bug had been in off, then turned back to look at the firefly filled forest.

“I didn’t expect you of all people to bring me on a romantic firefly viewing date.”

“He-ey. What’s that supposed to mean? You’re the one who said you love clichés like this. I was up all night thinking about what kind of place you’d like to see last here.”

“Really?”

“Well, not all night. But I really did think about it.” Judar moved his braid over his shoulder - the end of it dragged through the water slowly, and Hakuryuu was once again fascinated by how long it was.

Hakuryuu held out his hands for Judar to hold, then turned them over and swung them together. It quickly fell into the rhythm of crickets chirping. Hakuryuu licked his lips to make sure they weren’t dry, then did it again for good measure. “I’ll miss you.”

Though Hakuryuu had been planning on initiating the kiss, Judar beat him to it. Like all of their kisses, it only lasted a second or two. But the amount of time their faces were hovering together made it seem like a much longer kiss. 

“Judar, um…” Hakuryuu paused nervously, and Judar touched their lips together once more in his silence, “I… really like you.”

“Hakuryuu,” Judar smiled, pressing his lips back onto Hakuryuu’s so he could feel it. “I love you.”

Not knowing how to respond, Hakuryuu ducked down before changing his mind and angling his face back up to meet Judar’s. Their noses bumped together for a second before Hakuryuu found the right angle to properly kiss him. Judar’s lips settled on his lower lip, sucking at it softly before pulling away.

“That’s it. You had the same kind of popsicle the first time we kissed.”

It took a second for Hakuryuu to process what Judar had just said before his face turned red. “S, so did you…”

“Did you really remember it?” Judar asked.

“Yes.”

“Wow,” Judar breathed. “That’s…”

“I know. Really cliché.”


End file.
